Stock display means



July 23, 1935.

F. L. SCHWEMER STOCK DISPLAY MEANS Filed Sept. 24, 1954VIIII/IIIIIII/II/II/IIII/I,

INVEIYATOR.

We W

ATTORNEYS.

.7. l 1 2 a a .2 .2 3

Patented July 23, 1935 UNITED STATES ATENT orrlcr.

Claims.

This invention relates to display means for wall-paper or other articlesof stock or merchandise and the main object of the invention is toprovide for display of a large number of such -5- articles in suchmanner that all of the articles will be presented successively todisplay position.

A further object of the invention is toprovide means for automaticoperation of the display means.

Another object of the invention is'to provide means whereby the displaymeans maybe op eratecl automatically or manually as may be desired.

The accompanying drawing illustrates an embodiment of my invention, andreferring thereto:

Fig. l is a side elevation of the display means;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section thereon on line 2-2 in Fig. 1; s

Fig. 3 is a vertical section on line 3-3 in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a partial'horizontal section on line 45 in Fig. l;

Fig. 5 is a section on line 5-5 in Fig.2, showing the tappet means forshifting the position of the display members;

r Fig. 6 is an end elevation of the bracket means for supporting thewall-paper rolls or other articles, together with a roll of Wall-paperthereon;

Fig. 7 is a perspective of one 'of said brackets;

Fig. 8 is a plan view of the clutch means for releasing the connectionbetween the driving means and the display apparatus;

Fig. 9 is a section on line 9-9 in Fig. 2.

The display apparatus shown in the drawing comprises a base I, a post orstandard 2 extending vertically on said'base, a rotatable frame 'orcarrier member mounted to turn on said post, and 'a plurality of panelsor display members carried by said rotatable frame or carrier member.

The rotatable frame or carrier member aforesaid may comprise a verticaltube 3 surrounding the post 2 and mounted to turn on .a bearing lat theupper end of said post, a bottom plate or frame 4 mounted on the lowerend of said tube 3 and a topplate or frame 5 mounted on the upper end ofsaid tube. There may be any desired number of display members or panelsindicated at 6 mounted on said rotatable frame; for example, there maybe four such panels as shown in the drawing, mounted at angularly equaldistances on the rotatable frame. Each of said panels or members 6 maybe swivelled or pivoted centrally at its upper and lower ends, asindicated at l iand 8 on the respective frame means 5 and 5, so thateach of said members 6 is free torturn on the said rotatable frame meansindependentlyof the others of said devices. The bearings for sup-.-porting the said display members 6 on the rotatable frame and thebearings forsupporting the rotatable frame on its fixed supports may beof any suitable construction, but the'bearing l for the rotatable frameandthe lower bearings 8 for members ii are preferably ball bearings, sothat the operation of the display apparatus, either manually orautomatically, maybe effected with minimum friction.

Each of the display members-or panels 6 is provided with means forsupporting thereon the articles 9 to be displayed, said meansconsisting, for example, of brackets IQ of any suitable construction andpreferably detachably mounted on the display member 6, for example, bymeans of hooks ill on the means It! engaging with headed studs l l onthe member 5.

5 The 7 display members 6 are provided with means for supportingWall-paper rolls or other articles on each side of suchmembers and meansare provided for automatically turning or angularly shifting each member6 through a semirotation as the rotatable supporting frame turns past acertain position so as to eventually exhibit ordisplay the articles onboth sides of each member 6. For this purpose'a tappet means I3 ismounted in a suitable position on the base l so as to engage the member-6 and cause it to turn on its pivots l andt. In order to enable thedisplay means to be used without such automatic rotation of the displaymembers, the tappet means it is preferablymounted to slidevertically onits support [4, means, such as a set screw l 5, being provided to holdit in elevated. position so as to engage the displaymember 6. I havefound it desirable to make the tappet means in the form of a'wheelmounted to rotate on a vertical post 15, which extends in a verticalbore in the support it and is clamped by the set screw it. -;The tappetwheel i3 is preferably formed with a soft rubber tire H3 which engagesthe display member 6 with a rolling contact, substantially eliminatingnoise, friction, and Wear.

Means are provided for automatically rotating therotatable frame, thisoperation being effected 'by a motor, such asan electric motor l'lmounted onor within the base I and connected to drive the rotatableframe through any suitable driving connection. Said motoris electricallyconnected to socket;mea ns IT for supplying electric current thereto.The motor I! is preferably pro- -vided with the usual speed reducingmeans and the shaft l8 operated thereby maybe provided with a pinion l9driving a gear wheel 20 on a counter shaft 2!, on which is also mounteda pulley 22 connected by belt 23 to a larger pulley 24 on the bottommember 4 of the rotatable frame. I prefer to provide manually releasableclutch means in the connection between the motor and the rotatable frameso that the frame may be disconnected from the motor when it is desiredto operate the display means manually. Any suitable clutch means may beused for this purpose, for example, the means shown in Fig. 8,comprising a key member 26, mounted to slide on top of the pulley 22 andprovided at one end with a notch 27 adapted to engage the pin 28 on saidpulley, said slide member 26 being also provided with a slot 29 adaptedto engage a fiattened projection or key 3| at the uper end of the shaft2! and said slide being provided at one end of said slot with a circularenlargement 3| adapted to permit free rotation of key portion 30 of theshaft within said enlargement when the parts are in the position shownin Fig.6. By shifting the slide so as to cause notch 21 to engage pin 28and slot 29 to engage key portion 38, the shaft 2! is keyed or clutchedto the wheel 22 so as to enable the motor 81 to effect rotation of therotatable frame and the display members carried thereby.

A retaining member formed, for example, as

, a leaf spring 32 is provided for each of the display members 6 so asto hold said member in proper position for display, except when it isbeing turned on its pivots as above described. Said retaining means maybe secured at one end to the lower member 4 of the rotatable frame andis provided near its outer or free end with a depressed seat portion 33adapted to receive and engage the bottom of member 6 to hold it byfrictional engagement in proper position. The outer end of the resilientmember 32 is bent downward so as to enable the member 32 to be depressedby the member 6 as the latter rides thereover during its angularshifting.

When the device is set for automatic operation, the clutch means 26 isin position to connect shaft 2| with pulley 22 so that when the motor I!is set in operation, the rotatable frame is caused to turn slowly and tosuccessively bring each of the display members 6 into position forexhibition at any side of the apparatus which may be used as the frontor exhibiting side. As each display member 6 comes to position asindicated in broken lines at the bottom of Fig. 2, in which its forwardportion makes contact with the tappet wheel l3, continued rotation ofthe rotatable frame in the direction shown by the arrow, causes the saidmember 6 to be turned on its pivots or swivel supports 1 and 8 byengagement of said member with the tappet I3, whereby the said member 6is caused to rotate through a semi-rotation on the rotatable support. Toenable the display member to be turned through one-half revolution orreversed in this manner, the portion of said display member, whichengages with the tappet, is straight and extends transversely ordiametrically with reference to the axis of rotation of the displaymember and is formed with parallel fiat tappet-engaging faces onopposite sides thereof and the tappet means runs along one face of thistappet-engaging portion of the display member until the centerof saidtappet-engaging portion is reached, at which time the display member hasbeen turned one-quarter revolution and then in the further rotation thesame portion of the tappet-engaging member again engages with the tappetmeans to complete the one-half revolution. The display member thenremains in fixed position with relation to the carrier member until thenext succeeding revolution of said carrier member, at which time theother face of the fiat or straight tappet-engaging portion of thecarrier member engages with the tappet means to effect another one-halfrevolution. When the member 6 has been rotated to position shown in fulllines at the left of Fig. 2, the tappet wheel I3 has traversed theentire width of member 6 and has, in completing the semi-rotation ofsaid member,

'caused the bottom edge of said member at the other side of its pivot toride over the bent outer portion of the retaining spring 32 into theseat or depression 33 on said spring, which then holds the displaymember in that position until the next'contact with the tappet wheel. Ihave shown only one tappet wheel in the drawing, but it will beunderstood that any desired number of tappets may be used according tothe number of half turns desired for the display members in eachrotation of the rotatable frame. I prefer, however, to provide foroperation in such manner that each display member is only rotated on thecarrier member during a portion of the time. Thus, by providing a singletappet member for several display members, as shown in the drawing, theoperation is such that only one display member is being turned at anyone time, thereby concentrating the observers attention on the goodsdisplayed on that member.

When it is desired to use the apparatus for manual operation, the clutchmeans 26 is released by sliding it into position in which the circularopening 3E3 registers with the shaft 29 and the tappet means i3 islowered, by releasing set screw 55, whereupon the rotatable frame may beturned by hand, if desired, to bring any one of the display members toexhibiting position.

Any one of the display members 6 may be turned by hand at any time,whether the rotatable frame is in motion or at rest, and whatever may bethe position in which said members are placed by such manual operation,they will be brought to proper display position, as indicated in thedrawing, by the operation of the tappet means thereon in the rotation ofthe rotatable frame.

I claim:

1. Stock display means comprising a support; a carrier member mounted torotate on said support; a plurality of display members pivotally mountedon said carrier member, each of said display members being provided withmeans for supporting articles to be displayed at each side thereof;means for rotating said carrier member on its support; tappet means onsaid support for engaging and rotating said display members, each' ofsaid display members having a straight tappet-engaging portion extendingdiametrically with reference to the axis of the display member andadapted to engage the tappet member to cause said display member to turna one-half revolution on its pivotal support so as to alternatelydisplay different sides of each display member, and retaining meansreleasably engaging the display members to releasably hold said membersin definite angular position on the rotatable frame but to permit thedisplay members to be turned from said position by the operation of thetappet means, said retaining means comprising resilient means mounted onthe carrying member and having a depressed portion engaging a portion ofthe display member.

2. Stock display means comprising a support; a carrier member mounted torotate on said support; a plurality of display members pivotally mountedon said carrier member, each of said display members being provided withmeans for supporting articles to be displayed at each side thereof;means for rotating said carrier member on its support; tappet means onsaid support for engaging and rotating said display members, each ofsaid display members having a straight tappet-engaging portion extendingdiametrically with reference to the axis of the display member andadapted to engage the tappet member to cause said display member to turna one-half revolution on its pivotal support so as to alternatelydisplay different sides of each display member; a releasable connectionbetween the ratatable frame and the means for driving the same, andmeans for adjustably supporting said tappet means to enable withdrawalof same from position for engagement with the display members so as toprovide for manual operation of the display means.

3. Stock display means comprising a base; a rotatable frame mounted toturn on said base; a motor connected to rotate said rotatable frame; aplurality of display members pivotally mounted on said rotatable frameand provided with means at each side of each of said members forsupporting articles to be displayed; and a tappet mounted on said baseand adapted to engagesaid pivoted display members to turn the same onthe rotatable frame during the rotation of said frame, each displaymember being provided with a tappet-engaging portion and having flatsurfaces on opposite sides thereof and extending diametrically withreference to the axis of rotation of the isplay member, whereby eachdisplay member is turned through one-half revolution at each operationthereof, said tappet means being formed as a wheel adapted to engage therespective display members by rolling contact.

4. Stock display means comprising a base; a rotatable frame mounted toturn on said base; a motor connected to rotate said rotatable frame; aplurality of display members pivotally mounted on said rotatable frameand provided with means at each side of each of said members forsupporting articles to be displayed; and. a tappet mounted on said baseadapted to engage said pivoted display members to turn the same on therotatable frame during the rotation of said frame, each display memberbeing provided with a tappet-engaging portion and having flat surfaceson opposite sides thereof and extending diametrically with reference tothe axis of rotation of the display member, whereby each display memberis turned through one-half revolution at each operation thereof, saidtappet means being vertically adjustable to enable it to be brought intoor out of position to engage and operate the display member.

5. Stock display means comprising a base; a rotatable frame mounted toturn on said base; a motor connected to rotate said rotatable frame; aplurality of display members pivotally mounted on said rotatable frameand provided with means at each side of each of said members forsupporting articles to be displayed; and a tappet mounted on said baseadapted to engage said pivoted display members to turn the same on therotatable frame during the rotation of said frame, each display memberbeing provided with a tappet-engaging portion and having fiat surfaceson opposite sides thereof and extending diametrically with reference tothe axis of rotation of the display member, whereby each display memberis turned through one-half revolution at each operation thereof, andmanually releasable clutch means in the driving connection between thedriving motor and the rotatable frame.

FRANK L. SCHWEMER.

